COURTHOUSE — As she continues to profess her innocence, an Upper Merion woman convicted of suffocating an infant she babysat 20 years ago has asked a state court to review her case.

Lawyers for Melissa Haskell, 39, formerly of Pottstown, Ambler and Bridgeport and most recently of the 700 block of Pershing Street in Upper Merion, filed papers in Montgomery County Court on Friday appealing Haskell’s murder conviction and 10-to-20-year prison term to the Pennsylvania Superior Court.

In June, Haskell was convicted by a jury of third-degree murder in connection with the Aug. 26, 1992, death of 5-month old Ryan Baurley at a Swedesburg home. Last month, Judge Garrett D. Page sentenced Haskell to the prison term, the maximum punishment allowable under 1992 laws.

“First and foremost, we wanted to make sure our client’s appellate rights were protected,” said defense lawyer Martin P. Mullaney, who represented Haskell at trial along with co-defense lawyer Frank Genovese. “Mr. Genovese and I think she has several viable issues on appeal, most importantly the admissibility of the changed death certificate and the coroner’s altered conclusion as to the cause of death.”

During the original investigation in 1992, Haskell told police she found the baby boy unresponsive in his crib. At that time, a pathologist concluded the infant died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), even though the 1992 autopsy found bruising on the baby’s brain and larynx that are consistent with suffocation, according to court papers.

At trial, prosecutors presented evidence from current county Coroner Dr. Walter I. Hofman, who changed the manner of death on Baurley’s death certificate to homicide after a follow-up examination of the 1992 autopsy report. Hofman testified the evidence of suffocation, combined with the high blood alcohol content of 0.04 percent in the baby’s blood, suggested malice in the manner of death.

During the trial, Mullaney and Genovese challenged the reliability of evidence that led to the new death certificate being issued.

While Mullaney and Genovese filed Haskell’s initial appeal, they have also asked a judge to allow them to withdraw from the case as Haskell’s lawyers. In court papers, Mullaney claimed Haskell “has also indicated that she is without the funds necessary” for Mullaney and Genovese to continue to represent her on her direct appeal.

If a judge removes Mullaney and Genovese from the case, then the judge could approve a court-appointed lawyer to represent Haskell during the appeals process.

The appeal to the Superior Court will require Judge Page, who presided over the trial, to write an opinion on the case. The state court also could eventually schedule a hearing on the matter, requiring prosecutors and defense lawyers to argue their positions on the appeal.

During the trial, Deputy District Attorney Christopher Maloney and co-prosecutor Matthew Quigg argued Haskell poisoned the baby with alcohol and then smothered him to death.

Haskell, who authorities alleged was violently ill from heroin withdrawal at the time she babysat, expressed remorse and guilt that the infant died while under her care but claimed she did not feed the boy alcohol and did not suffocate him.

In addition to the new death certificate, the prosecution’s evidence also included an April 2011 wiretap recording in which Haskell was heard over and over saying to her ex-husband Michael Leflar, “I pinky swear I will not put my hand over our son’s mouth to the point where he can’t breathe, like I did to that baby.”

But at trial, Mullaney and Genovese implied Haskell was coerced into making that statement by Leflar, with whom she was involved in a bitter custody dispute. Mullaney and Genovese implied the only reason Leflar went to police with a murder accusation was to tip the scales of the custody battle in his favor.